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Romantic Science and the Experience of Self: Transatlantic Crosscurrents from William James to Oliver Sacks (review)

2002; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 76; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bhm.2002.0190

1086-3176

E. James Lieberman,

Empathy and Medical Education

It takes a scholar of long reach, patience, intellectual fortitude, and idealism to address the life work of five deep thinkers spanning more than a century and representing several different, if related, cultures. Martin Halliwell, research fellow in English and American Studies at De Montfort University, Leicester, exemplifies these qualities, on the basis of this remarkable work. Of its subjects—William James, Otto Rank, Ludwig Binswanger, Erik Erikson, and Oliver Sacks—three are physicians, and all made major contributions to clinical therapeutics. Among Halliwell's many commendable capabilities is his view of medicine in practical—as in the art and science of the clinic—as well as philosophical terms. He addresses the way in which healers regard and interact with patients in historical and cultural context, making this book worthy of a place in medical education generally, as well as in cultural history and psychiatry.